


Taste of Home

by tryslora



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Birthday, Cake, Coda, College, Community: fullmoon_ficlet, F/F, Future Fic, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-01-15 19:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1317187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tryslora/pseuds/tryslora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cora doesn’t know where home is anymore, until Lydia unexpectedly finds her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Taste of Home

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for prompt #60 - Birthday at fullmoon_ficlet. Out of all the things I could have done for the prompt, my brain gave me this… but I wanted something a little different, and I wanted to give Cora a landing place. So here we go. As always, I do not own the world or characters of Teen Wolf, I just like to play with them.

Once upon a time, South America used to feel like home.

Beacon Hills used to feel like home.

Not anymore.

Cora knocks around her old haunts in various countries in South America for a few months, missing Derek and missing the life she’d created, not sure where she’s going. She had a plan once, then the alphas came and screwed that to hell and back, and now… she meanders through life. It takes her a year to figure out that she has no idea what she really wants to do and where she wants to go, but she knows it isn’t here.

She sends in the application for Smith before she can reconsider. It’s not warm there. It’s not California or South America. It’s about as far from her past as she can get. And it’s a good school.

Cora can do school. Right?

She gets in and the money for it comes out of the trust after some negotiation with Derek. He gives it to her along with hopes that she might come home for the holidays. She makes the right noises, but Beacon Hills isn’t home.

When she moves in, her roommate gives her odd looks for coming in on her own. Adele’s a sweet girl, and Cora thinks maybe they can be friends, if Cora can remember how to relate to humans.

It all seems so confusing, being back among humanity, pushing the wolf down below everything else. She goes out for cross country because it feels good to run. She thinks maybe she’ll try basketball in the fall; she learned all the rules at Derek’s feet when she was little and he played varsity. She needs something to keep herself busy, something to keep the wolf distracted.

She finds a routine and time passes in a haze of classes and activity, leaving her no time to feel unmoored.

As fall eases into the early days of winter, the air is brutally cold and her nose feels as if it turns red the second she goes outside. She rushes between classes with her head down and her chin buried under a scarf, the cold nipping at her ears in uncomfortable ways. She is still shivering when she ducks into a building and leans against wall, breath puffing out in small clouds.

She smells something sweet, a rush of chocolate and the sharp tang of cream cheese. It makes her think of childhood and it’s like a punch to the gut, reminding her of home and the cake Laura made every December for Cora’s birthday. A small moan slips out before she can control it, hands pressed against her stomach as she doubles over from the physical pain brought on by visceral emotion.

“If you’re going to be ill, try to miss my shoes.”

The voice is crisp and clear and absolutely familiar despite the fact that Cora barely knew her and hasn’t heard it in  two years. She looks up, eyes going wide to see red hair and pursed lips and a cupcake held between fingers tipped with perfectly manicured nails.

“I won’t bite,” Lydia says. “Although you can, if you’d like. The cupcake.” She lifts it again, and Cora looks at it more closely, seeing the brightly colored paper wrapper, and the way the frosting is piped on in a swirl. Homesickness rushes over her in a fresh wave.

“You talked to Derek.” Her voice is soft and hoarse, her fingers flexing at her side, trying to keep claws at bay. “He… that… Laura used to…”

“He gave me the recipe, and I borrowed a kitchen.” Lydia shrugs. “I thought you might like something that reminded you of home. You haven’t found roots here.”

“You’ve been following me?”

“Keeping an eye on you.” Lydia tilts her head. “Are you going to take the cupcake or not? Because if you leave me to eat two dozen of these, I am going to have to find someone to take them off my hands. They’d go straight to my hips.”

“I’m taking the cupcake.” Cora takes it and unwraps the paper quickly. She manages to fit the whole thing in her mouth, sweet and bitter and tangy exploding into one melange of flavor as she tries to chew and swallow. It isn’t pretty, but it’s worth it. It’s so very worth it.

Lydia’s lips purse, amused. “I thought that might happen.” She reaches into her purse and brings out a plastic container. “I brought more for you to savor. Happy birthday.”

“What are you doing here?” Cora manages to swallow enough to speak, although her words are still muffled. She had completely forgotten her own birthday, and the idea that it’s _now_ leaves her befuddled and confused.

“It’s like talking to a combination of Stiles and Derek,” Lydia muses. “I’m here because I think we can help each other, considering that we are both far from home. Unless you mean Smith, in which case I’m here because I’m attending the school, which yes, I know, is not where you might expect to find me, but there are reasons.”

“Which are, of course, mysterious and supernatural.”

Lydia beams. “Yes. Exactly. It’s not a life suitable for making fresh connections.”

“Fine.” Cora opens the container and pulls out one of the three cupcakes. This one she peels more delicately, and she tears it in half, offering part to Lydia. “Thank you. This may be the oddest birthday gift I’ve had in years.”

“I suspect it’s the first birthday gift you’ve had in years,” Lydia counters, her expression gentling. “I’m honored to be the one to give it to you. Friends?”

“Something like that.” Cora watches as Lydia nibbles at the cupcake and she thinks that even though she might not know where home is, she may have found something to hold onto for now.


End file.
